Our New Pet got away before we even took a picture!

"Maddie" was our latest pet turtle. Katie and Melissa pooled their money for her and mom bought the food and heat lamp. So, we had our turtle, a Mississippi Mud turtle, for about 12 days, when it decided to jump(it had to have jumped to get out of the big bucket we had it in) and get away. We posted signs around the neighborhood for "lost turtle Maddie" but haven't seen her return. Melissa prayed for her safety tonight--she's been gone since Thursday. We are sad but moving on over here. I don't even have a picture because I hadn't even taken one yet! OOOPS! Turtles can return to their home and God is bigger than anything, so we have hope still, even if she doesn't come back--we will serve the Lord and enjoy Alex, our fish that can't go anywhere!

Mark's Birthday! He's Four!

Well, we celebrated Mark's b-day in Houston a week before it happen, but Mimer's camera has all of those pictures, b/c I forgot my camera! So, you can see half of the b-day celebration. We celebrated on his b-day-October 8th and he was sooooo happy all day that it was his birthday! Even when he wasn't opening presents, he felt pretty special. It was fun to watch! Mark loves Thomas(his Houston cake) and Cars(his Plano cake)! We decorated it with the cars that he loves. His sisters bought(with their own moola!) the Chic car that Mark wanted so much, so we let him open that one in the morning, so we could use it on the cake!

Wow, it's been awhile!

Just yesterday, John said that I needed to update my blog. When he says something like that, it helps me get going!! So, this is just a note to say that I will be updating as soon as I download some pics. Please stay posted to: Mark's b-day, and our new pet! and maybe even more:).

Musical Talent at the Bull Home!

I just wanted to share some pics with everyone about music at our house. Matthew and Melissa seem to have that natural music bend to them and Matthew is very animated too when hearing music. Just take a look at the pics I took lately! Who said you could be musical with cucumbers?! Mark joined in on cucumber rock-n-roll!! Yes, Mark is sporting a Bob shirt and tighty-whities!! What can we say, he likes a la natural sometimes!!

Love those Comments! Keep 'em Comin'!

I just have to say I love it when people leave comments to my blogs:). Although I would blog even if no one read what I wrote(except for John-I would make him read them:) --I just open it up in front of his Aggie website, and he is forced(not really) to read before moving it! HAA! John loves reading it anyway, but a wife has to do what I wife must!), I love to see your comments, b/c then I see that you read what our family is up to. It's fun that way! Of course, I love to comment on other people's blogs, so maybe it's just a "Karen" thing!! Thanks Alisa, Lori,Kay,Mimer&Papa, Ginger, Doug and all of you who will start leaving comments soon-hehe!!

Aggie Football

Well, we are back in the swing of things for school and so is FOOTBALL!!! The Aggies played today and yes, we actually went to church with the game still going on. I am soooo proud of John for making the sacrifice. He had his palm pilot out checking the score half-way through church though...I don't think Pastor Brooks could see him though!!! I thought of our friend, Kevin Hauser-who is with the Lord now. Kevin was a head usher at our church before he passed away in Dec. 2005, and he would pass John notes during church service saying the score of the on-going game. Kevin got to watch from heaven's side lines tonight--to which John wondered...does he still get nervous in heaven?? A&M barely won after 3 over times tonight!!! I shed some tears missing our Aggie friend tonight. His lovely wife and my close friend, Alisa, still roots for the Aggies, but only if they aren't playing Virginia Tech (her alma matta).

Co-Op Fridays

This past Friday was our first day back at our homeschool co-op. The kids love it, and I do too, really(that's what I must tell myself!!) It's a long day!! Here is our day in the life at ECC(Enrichment Classes of Carrollton--name of our c0-op).
I wake up at 6:30 or before, the girls and Mark wake up at 7(although Katie was dressed by 6!!) . Matthew wakes up a bit later. They eat and we are out the door by 8:10(that's the latest). We head over to the City of Carrollton (about 20-25 min away in traffic). Assembly starts at 8:40 and goes to 8:55--we sing some worship songs, say the pledge, a child recites a scripture from memory, we pray and we are off!!!
Katie's classes : Traveling Minstrels(history -sort of), Shake it up Shakespeare(acting--Katie wants to be in the movies), Color-color-color, Cheers and Cartwheels, and Bird's Eye View(geography)
Melissa is in kindergarten class all morning, a Dr. Suess class and a games class.
Mark and Matthew go to their preschool class.
They take naps in the afternoon and Matthew slept the whole two hours after lunch on a nap mat!!! (He sleeps in a crib still, so I was wondering if he would sleep at all with no borders. He did!!!
My classes: Traveling Minstrels, CSI -ECC or wherever they put me, PRE-ALGEBRA--I am back to my love of math teaching!!! Yipee!--I am a teacher!!!, Grading period, then Extreme weather.
I help in all, but the pre-algebra---where I actually am the teacher! I love it! Can you tell?
We ended our first day and were leaving the parking lot by 3:06, and we headed to Sonic where we got slushes!!!

I got home and laid on the couch like a zombie!!! Katie says she wishes we could go to ECC everyday---whoa momma!!! I couldn't do it!!

Human Art!

Have you ever seen the picture of the kid with marker all over his face? When my Uncle Kevin sent that to me, years ago, I wondered...how does that really happen all over the face like that picture!? Well, I saw the beginning stages yesterday at my house. We have art after snack time and usually I just give Matthew a pencil...but yesterday, the girls had the markers out! Well, I just want to say that the washable markers are really good! It wiped right off...to proove it, I took an after shot! Check out the body art!

Baptism Time!!

Melissa has wanted to get baptised for about 6 months now, so we signed her up and she got dunked!! Johnny(our Master's Commission Leader from the church) did the honors! Melissa was so excited to do this! Mimer and Papa, Uncle Marty, and Papaw were able to make it out too to see our little red head declare Jesus is Lord! Enjoy the pics!

Bull Academy Students!

Our first day of bull academy 2007-2008 school year!

Our first day of school for this year! We are studying American History and covering the states and people involved in starting this great nation. We have studied the meaning of our names, Geography, History, Spelling and Reading. We had a patriotic snack of blueberries, strawberries and bananas--for red white and blue!! We have a white board, a historical time-line and our "Aunt Laura" bookshelf--stocked with our homeschool things! If you double-click on individual pictures, you should be able to see a bigger view of them.

Katie and Melissa made a friend!! and teach a lesson of love

To preserve the innocent, we will call their "friend" LuLu. Lulu is who I wrote about before that was not talking to Melissa at church. Last night, Melissa walked up to me after her class and said very excitedly, "Lulu is my friend now!!" She was soooo thrilled that she broke down the "meaness" that she thought was there in Lulu. Melissa said she went up and hugged Lulu. Katie told me later that Lulu was their friend now and that Lulu was going to bring her purse to church next weekend for Katie to see what's in it! She is thrilled too! Funny what excites a 7 year old! I am so glad that Katie and Melissa won over Lulu's heart. Jesus wants us to love others regardless if they love us back, and that is a lesson that we all can take to heart and action! Who knew that parents are to learn to be like Jesus from their own kids? Jesus did, when He told us we had to be like children to enter into the kingdom of heaven!

A Root Canal vs. a C-section~??

A Root Canal vs. C-section...C-section is easier!!! Your reward outweighs any pain you might have, even if the pain is still coming 6-9 months later! I had to get three shots for the root canal b/c the medicine did not numb me enough!!! I've had two epidurals for one birth before, but three shots in the mouth is enough for me!!! Fortunately, it went smooth according to the Dentist! Smooth like the roads in Dallas? Smooth like rocky road ice cream? Hmmmmmm! I'm glad I don't have to know another not so smooth one! I had a not so smooth one before!! I didn't know one could have this much dental work?! But, every child that sucked all that calcium out of my teeth is sooooo worth anything! Sometimes, I wonder if it would be easier to just take your teeth out each night...but they tell me, do what ever you can to keep your teeth! Who is this "they"? and how many root canals have they had? Ok, that's all my crazy blogging about myself for now.